I've been too busy with other styles to pay much attention to this style of pizza, but that photo definitely has my attention. What is your procedure for mixing/kneading/proofing, etc. Thanks.

Bill,

I sift the flour and semolina. Add oils first to flour mixture and combine with spoon. Heat water to 110F, dissolve sugar and salt. Sprinkle yeast over flour, then add the water. Hand mix with spoon for about 30 seconds. Then I add the butter (softened) to it and knead for 1 minute. My kneading is basically one hand squeezing it lightly... flipping over and squeezing again and repeating.

Cover with plastic wrap and put into a 95 degree oven for 2.5hrs. Remove, punch down and let it sit on counter for another 1.5hrs. Punch down again before pressing into pan.

FYI: Lou Malnatis Pizzeria has been voted best deep dish pizza in Chicago for many years in a row.

Nate

Nate - Have you ever been to Malnatis? It sounds like you have. Can you describe what the difference is, if any, from this formulation and their pizza regarding taste/texture of the crust? I did a similar formula in my BTB thread, and wanted to know if it was close in taste to a real deep dish from Chicago.

Nate - Have you ever been to Malnatis? It sounds like you have. Can you describe what the difference is, if any, from this formulation and their pizza regarding taste/texture of the crust? I did a similar formula in my BTB thread, and wanted to know if it was close in taste to a real deep dish from Chicago.

John

John,

I have been there numerous times. Malnatis almost has this Irish soda pop bread favor to their crust. It's hard to describe. I've tried most of BTBs formulations and have modified mine a little. I do not believe Malnatis pizza is quite as crunchy as the 20% semolina makes it. I know BTB prefers the crunch and extra flavor the semolina gives it and that is totally fine since it's about personal preference anyway.

Give this recipe a shot and see what you think. In my eyes it's the closest I've ever came to recreating the real thing and I've made a 100 or so.

This is a YouTube vid of Marc Malnatis making a tailgate pizza and he says on the average deep dish pizza they use about 1/2lb of cheese. He is making a 9 inch at the time. That is all I have to go off.

The one time I've had Chicago Pizza in Chicago was at the original Uno's location and let me tell you their crust was I think made out of stale Pillsbury crescent rolls that had been reconstituted with shoe polish and then formed into a crust, and then fired with something akin to TxCraigs "cactus burner". An unpleasant experience, to say the least.